Iranian mullahcracy arrests three opposition leaders

We’re at the 32nd anniversary of the Iranian revolution, a slow-motion disaster that ended up empowering one of the most intolerant, hostile and devious regimes on earth. Egypt, an American ally, is in the midst of its own revolution, an uprising that started in Tunisia and may spread elsewhere. It’s the “spread elsewhere” part that seems to have the mullahs in Tehran worried. They have arrested at least three opposition leaders, and have searched their homes. A wave of arrests, and more, may be in the offing as young Iranians take to social networking sites to try their hand at generating protests against their government.

The question now is, what will the Obama administration do and say about this? When the Egyptian uprising started, the Obama team dithered but eventually leaned on Hosni Mubarak to begin some sort of transfer of power. Team Obama said no such thing during the 2009 Iranian uprising. Will they now? Will the administration call on Iran to release those it is arresting and stop intimidating them with searches and harassment?

Here at the Tatler, we’re not holding our breath.